::fibreculture:: Games industry discussion

[Stefan Schutt]

Hi again.

What is curious to me is the difference in the figures stated by King and
Crago in their relative Courier Mail articles on the games industry.
(http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23061476-27197,00.html).

As someone who is training people to enter the games industry, it would be
great to have some solid timely info on employment prospects, demographics,
industry movements etc that isn¹t marred by spin or lack of clarity about
the definition of what is defined as the Œgames industry¹ (such using
figures on online gamers to infer general conclusions about the industry, as
per King¹s article). Bodies like Multimedia Victoria use figures provided by
the The Game Developers¹ Association of Australia, of which Crago is
president (http://www.mmv.vic.gov.au/Games).

Does anyone out there know where the figures quoted in the article come
from? The GDAA did commission a short report by Insight Economics in 2006
(see: http://www.gdaa.com.au/about.html) but these figures are different
again from the ones quoted in the articles. There are also other reports
(such as this parliamentary one:
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/cita/film/report/chapter3.pdf) which
were quoted in the Fin Review but these appear to be out of date.

At least the articles are generating debate and discussion which is a good
thing (http://sumea.com.au/snews.asp?news=3742&PageNo=9).


Some quotes from the articles:

King:

According to both The Australian Financial Review and toy and hobby trade
magazines, the total figure of online gamers in Australia is about 200,000
with only 50,000-70,000 playing at any one time (higher log-ons at night).

There is a very high attrition rate as the "novelty factor" quickly wears
thin, especially among women. Females make up less than 10 per cent of
players. The average age for males is 19.

There are about 1200 people working full-time in the industry.


Crago:

Seventy-nine per cent of Australian households have a device for playing
computer and video games.

The average age of Australian gamers is 28. Forty-one per cent of gamers are
female and 8 per cent are seniors. Hardly an "adolescent fascination".

The game industry here provides jobs for some 8500 Australians; more than
2000 of them employed in development studios like Tantalus, the company I
run in Melbourne.


GDAA Report 

The Australian electronic game industry now generates revenues of
approximately  $110 million per annum and directly employs approximately
1600 people of which  1350 are permanent staff and 250 are contract staff.



Cheers,

Stefan
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